Police hand in Murunkan robberies alleged

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 September 2002, 17:18 GMT]The Mannar magistrate Sunday remanded a Police
constable accused of robbing a shop in the Murunkan
town. The PC was caught by the townspeople Saturday
night around 8.30 p.m. while robbing a grocery. A
tense standoff developed late Saturday night between
the townspeople who had tied up the PC and more than
300 Police who had surrounded them, demanding the
robber’s release. Murunkan residents and traders
allege that the Police have been regularly robbing
shops in the town for more than three years with
impunity.

“Many of our shops were robbed in the past in this
manner. We have always lodged complaints about the
robberies at the Murunkan Police station. But the
Police took no effort to investigate or to catch the
thieves. The Murunkan town would empty by 4.30 p.m.
before the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE signed
the ceasefire agreement. There was no one in the town
except the Police. It was hence very obvious that the
Police had a direct hand in the robberies”, a trader
said.

“The Police came in strength to get the PC released
because they were scared that the truth would be out,”
he added.

The town’s people refused to hand over the robber to the
hundreds of Policemen who had surrounded them Saturday
night. Several traders had meanwhile called the
regional Police headquarters in Vavuniya and explained
the situation.

The robber was handed over to the Murunkan Police
around 2.30 a.m. after the Senior Superintendent of
Police (SSP) came to the town from Vavuniya and spoke
to the traders and youth who had tied up the PC.